Rail-bobtd



No. 895,928 PATENTED AUG. 11, 1908. M M WOOD RAIL BOND. PLIGATION FILED SEP gmmmssms Xmam m y Ma/W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MONTRAVILLE M. WOOD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

RAIL-BOND.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 1908.

Application filed. September 9, 1901. Serial No. 74,786.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, MoN'rRAviLLE M. Woop, acitizen of the Unite States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of illinols, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Bonds, of which the following is a specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherem-- Figures 1, 2 and 3 show in cross section different forms of my invention, and Figs. 4, 5 and 6 show the same forms respectively after pressure has been applied.

M Y invention relates to means for securing rail-bond terminals to the rails which are to be electrically connected, and consists in a bond having a terminal adapted to enter an opening in the rail and containing a pointed or tapered pin with the taperin portion thereof opposite the interior wa of the 'opening, so that the material of the terminal may be compressed and at the same time expanded within the opening by the spreadin effect of the tapered in upon such materia as it is forced longitudinally along the pin.

Referring to Fig. 1 A is a rail shown in section; B is a bond; C is a bond terminal consist-ing of a cylindrical lug projecting from the bond B and adapted to enter an opening in the rail A. D is a pointed or tapered pin of hard material, preferably cast permanently in the terminal 0.. I also prefer to have the point of the pin contained within the material of the terminal so as to readil ierce the same when pressure is applied. he 0 ening in the rail may, if desired, be provi ed with undercut recesses a and b, or otherwise formed with retaining grooves or prpjections. The terminal 0 having the original form shown in F i 1, with the pin D in the ope in in lplace, is to be insert-e rai A as shown in Fig. 1. Pressure is t ion applied to the inner end of the terminal and the material thereof will thereby be forced back longitudinally along the pin D and thereby expanded and headed over as shown in Fig. 4, so as to come into intimate contact with the inner walls of the opening and be permanently fixed and retained therein.

In Fig. 2 the pin D is shown. as havin a slightly different form from that appearing in Fig. I, while in Fig. 5 the same IS shown after compression.

In. Fig. 3 the pin D has'still a difi'erent form, being in. tins instance tapered at both its upper and lower ends and completely inclosed within the material of the terminal. InFig. 6 the terminal of Fig. 3 is shown after pressure has been applied. In this-case the pin D will be cast in the terminal C in the process of manufacture, so as to be completely embedded therein.

It may be observed that the term pin is not quite so appropriate for describing the device of 3 and 6 as it is for the device of Figs. land 4 or Figs. 2 and 5. I, however, retain the term in the comprehensive sense of an internal expand core harder than the material of the terminal, with the understanding that the word includes such a core broadly whether it is of the form appearing in 1 and 4, or 2 and 5, or 3 and 6, or even if it takes any other form which will enable it to serve the purpose above described.

The pin will be of steel or other hard substance, while the terminal will be of cop er or other substance softer than the pin. b viously the compression of the terminal will in each case force the material down around the diver g sides of the pin and thereby force suci material outward against the walls of the opening.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. The combination with a rail-bond terminal of solid metal, of a pointed iercin pin having its pointed end embedde in said metal.

2. The combination with a rail havin an opening therein, of a bond-terminal provided with an internal tapering pin and engagin the walls of said opening, the material of sai terminal being compressed longitudinally alon the said pin and thereh spread outward into intimate contact wit the material of the rail.

3. The combination with a rail having an o ening therein with retaining recesses on t 1e interior wall of the opening, of a bondterminal provided with a to. ering pin and contained in saidopening, t e material of said terminal being compressed and expanded by the said pin into intimate contact with the Interior we is of the said opening.

4. The combination with a rail or other body raving an opening therein, of a railbond terminal, a pointed tapering pin cast therein with. its diverging sides opposite that portion of the terminal which is adapted to be contained in said opening, whereb the material of the bond may be pressed ong tudinally along the said pm and thereby expanded mto intimate contact with the interior walls of said opening.

5. The combination with a rail-bond terminal of a pin therein pointed at both ends.

6. A terminal for rail bonds and similar electrical conductors, comprising a metallic lug-like head, and a spreader of relatively harder metal embedded therein, said spreader being so shaped that in the act of upsett' or eompthe head, it will direct an force the softer metal of the head to expand laterally outward.

7. A terminal for rail bonds and similar electrical conductors, comprising a metallic In -like head, and a spreader of relatively Earlier metal embedded therein, and ada ted to direct and force the softer metal 0 the head laterally outward in the act of upsetting or compressing the head, said spreader being so shaped that the zone of greatest expansion of the metal will be at substantially the center of the connection.

8. A terminal for rail bonds and similar electrical conductors, comprising a metallic lug-like head, and a spreader of relatively ar er metal embedded therein, said spreader being so shaped that in the act of upsetti or compressing the head, it will direct an force the softer metal of the head to expand outwardly in lines converging from opposite ceases sides of a transverse plane about centrally of the connection.

9. A terminal for rail bonds and similar electrical connections, provided with means when upsetting compression is applied for radially expanding particularly and principally the portion 0 the head midway be tween the ends.

10. In a rail bond, the combination with the rail having a hole of eater diameter at a point between its ends t an at the entrance,

and a terminal secured in the hole by expanding the metal to fill the enlarged inner part of the hole.

11. A rail bond connected to its rail by a plug-like terminal having its greatest diameter at a point between its ends, said terminal being secured in a hole in the rail having a greater diameter between its ends than at the entrance.

12. In a rail bond, the combination with the rail having a hole of eater diameter at a point between its ends t an at its entrance, and an expanded terminal secured in the hole and having a spreader or expander embedded therein.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand before two subscribing witnesses, this thirtieth daof Au st 1901.

JONT AVILLE M. WOOD.

L. C. banana, H. K. McEvor. 

